How Ford’s Model T Transformed Into a ‘Jumpin’ Bedstead’ During World War I, Helped Forge Relationship with Red Cross

The Ford Model T took the world by storm in the 1910s and became the go-to vehicle for organizations and armies in many countries during World War I. The American Red Cross was one of the many outfits making use of Ford’s versatile vehicles during the war. 

During World War I, Ford worked with the U.S. Surgeon General’s office to design a Model T-based ambulance, nicknamed “jumpin’ bedsteads” by troops and ideal for battlefield conditions. They were used by the Red Cross and many others. Thousands of Ford ambulances, produced in the U.S., France, and England, were used to transport wounded soldiers from the front lines of the battlefields. 

From factory to frontline

Ford’s newly established assembly line production methods were in place as the company built thousands of vehicles during the war. Ford contributed $500,000 worth of vehicles to the Red Cross during World War I. Included were nearly 375 touring cars, more than 200 each of trucks and vehicle chassis, and more than 100 ambulances among the nearly 950 vehicles it donated to the organization. Ford also produced an additional 1,454 vehicles for use by the Red Cross in wartime. 

The Model T ambulance can be traced to the early days of the war, when Ford in France created the first units from a fleet of 10 chassis. An ambulance body was fashioned from the containers that had been used to ship the vehicles, and a canvas top was added. The vehicles were used to transport soldiers to a hospital established by a group of Americans in suburban Paris beginning in 1914.

An American solider and driver of a Ford ambulance in France called the company’s vehicles “the mechanical marvel of the war.” 

The Ford ambulances were used not only by American forces but also those of England, France, Canada, Russia, New Zealand, and others. Their versatility, affordability, and relatively low fuel consumption hastened their adoption, but their maneuverability, strength, and dependability in navigating the often-treacherous conditions of the roads of that era really set the Ford ambulances, like their Model T forerunner, apart from the rest. 

In addition to ambulances, Fords were used as tanks, machine gun vehicles, supply cars, water pumps, and electric light plants among their various uses. Prior to the American entry into World War I, the Red Cross was using Ford vehicles built on Model T chassis as cook wagons to deliver hot meals and drinks to the front lines to nourish soldiers and volunteers. Also, the American Red Cross Motor Corps was founded during the latter part of the conflict.

Driving hope

The group’s 45,000 women members would drive 41 million miles using their own vehicles to transport wounded soldiers, blood, supplies, and military families during World War II. Ford supported the volunteer effort by providing vehicles and mechanic training in Detroit to help keep the women’s vehicles running smoothly. Ford also partnered with the Red Cross to host blood drives during the second World War, and the organization received one of the first donations from Ford Philanthropy, the global philanthropic arm of Ford Motor Company, when it was established in 1949. Through the years, Ford has hosted countless employee blood drives at Ford manufacturing plants and offices, supported relief and rebuilding efforts for hundreds of natural disasters, and the company has been a longtime member of the American Red Cross Disaster Giving Program. 

Donating Model T-based ambulances and other vehicles to the Red Cross during World War I was just one of the first examples of Ford’s commitment to helping in times of need, and the company’s long-standing relationship with the organization has helped solidify its legacy of giving.

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